Sebastian Copeland (born 3 April 1964) is a British-American-French photographer, polar explorer, author, lecturer, and environmental advocate. He has led numerous expeditions in the polar regions to photograph and film endangered environments. In 2017, Copeland was named one of the world's top 25 adventurers of the last 25 years by Men's Journal. He is a fellow of

The Explorers Club The Explorers Club is an American-based international multidisciplinary professional society with the goal of promoting scientific exploration and field study. The club was founded in New York City in 1904, and has served as a meeting point fo ...

. His documentary '' Into the Cold'' was a featured selection at the 2010

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

and was released on DVD timed to

Earth Day Earth Day is an annual event on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally by EarthDay.org (formerly Earth Day Network) including 1 b ...

2011.

Sebastian Copeland stands at the geographical North Pole 2009

Early life and education

Copeland is the son of the director of the

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

National

Philharmonic Orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, ce ...

Jean-Claude Casadesus Jean-Claude Probst (born 7 December 1935), known professional as Jean-Claude Casadesus, is a French conductor. Biography Casadesus was born in Paris on 7 December 1935, the son of actress Gisèle Casadesus and her husband Lucien Pascal. He beg ...

. He graduated from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in 1987.

Career

Copeland began his career in New York City directing music videos before moving on to commercial directing as well as professional photography with credits including fashion and advertising, album covers, and celebrities. Since 2000, Copeland has focused his work on

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. His prints have appeared in exhibitions including the United Nations (Solo Show, 2007), the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, mi ...

, and the

Peabody Essex Museum The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM) in Salem, Massachusetts, US, is a successor to the East India Marine Society, established in 1799. It combines the collections of the former Peabody Museum of Salem (which acquired the Society's collection) and the ...

as well as the

Field Museum of Natural History The Field Museum of Natural History (FMNH), also known as The Field Museum, is a natural history museum in Chicago, Illinois, and is one of the largest such museums in the world. The museum is popular for the size and quality of its educational ...

in Chicago. His work is included in The Natural World Museum in San Francisco's permanent archive. In 2006 and 2007 prints from his first book, ''Antarctica: The Global Warning'', were selected to tour with the International Photography Awards' "Best in Show" world tour. Copeland writes for ''Men's Journal'' and ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

''. He has made keynote addresses at the United Nations and think tank The Planetworkshops. He spent 15 years on the board of directors for Global Green and is a founding member of Artists for Amazonia.

Expeditions

In 2005, Copeland led a media initiative in the Arctic in defense of the

Inuit Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...

's loss of culture from climate change for

Global Green USA Global Green is the American affiliate of Green Cross International, an international non-governmental organization founded by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1993 to "foster a global value shift toward a sustainable and secure future."� ...

. In 2006 and 2007, Copeland spent two seasons aboard the scientific research ice breaker The Ice Lady Patagonia in the

Antarctic Peninsula The Antarctic Peninsula, known as O'Higgins Land in Chile and Tierra de San Martín in Argentina, and originally as Graham Land in the United Kingdom and the Palmer Peninsula in the United States, is the northernmost part of mainland Antarctic ...

. In 2008, Copeland and partner Luc Hardy led a group of nine children from international backgrounds to the northernmost edge of the Canadian arctic, on

Ellesmere island Ellesmere Island ( iu, script=Latn, Umingmak Nuna, lit=land of muskoxen; french: île d'Ellesmere) is Canada's northernmost and List of Canadian islands by area, third largest island, and the List of islands by area, tenth largest in the world. ...

. In 2009 Copeland mounted an expedition to the North Pole to commemorate the centennial of Admiral

Robert Peary Robert Edwin Peary Sr. (; May 6, 1856 – February 20, 1920) was an American explorer and officer in the United States Navy who made several expeditions to the Arctic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is best known for, in Apri ...

’s expedition in 1909. Footage of the expedition was used in the documentary ''Into the Cold: A Journey of the Soul'', which debuted at the

in 2010. In 2010, Copeland traversed 2,300 kilometers of

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is t ...

's ice flats from south to north on a

Kite skiing Snowkiting or kite skiing is an outdoor winter sport where people use kite power to glide on snow or ice. The skier uses a kite to give them power over large jumps. The sport is similar to water-based kiteboarding, but with the footwear used in ...

expedition. His expedition was meant to raise awareness of

global warming In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. He documented the journey with his camera and posted live updates through Facebook and Twitter. The expedition lasted 44 days and earned Copeland and partner Eric McNair Landry the new kite skiing distance World Record by covering the longest distance in a 24-hour period: 595 kilometers. Copeland led the Antarctica 2011–2012 Legacy Crossing. Over 82 days between 4 November 2011 and 24 January 2012 Sebastian and partner Eric McNair-Landry were the first to cross the Antarctica icecap from east to west via two of its poles. They used kites and skis, setting three new polar records in the process. Pulling of supplies each, they were the first to reach the Antarctica Pole of Inaccessibility (POI) from the

Novolazarevskaya Novolazarevskaya Station (russian: Станция Новолазаревская) is a Russian, formerly Soviet Union, Soviet, Antarctic research station. The station is located at Schirmacher Oasis, Queen Maud Land, from the Antarctic coast, fr ...

station on Antarctica's East coast by non-motorized means and without assistance. They were also the first to link the POI to the South Pole without motorized transportation. On 24 January 2012, they finally reached

Hercules Inlet Hercules Inlet is a large, narrow, ice-filled inlet which forms a part of the southwestern margin of the Ronne Ice Shelf. It is bounded on the west by the south-eastern flank of the Heritage Range, and on the north by Skytrain Ice Rise. Hercules ...

, effectively linking the eastern and western coast of Antarctica after covering an adjusted distance of about 4,100 kilometers. In August 2016 Copeland and partner Mark George crossed Australia's

Simpson Desert The Simpson Desert is a large area of dry, red sandy plain and dunes in the Northern Territory, South Australia and Queensland in central Australia. It is the fourth-largest Deserts of Australia, Australian desert, with an area of . The desert ...

on foot and without support, pulling all water and supplies on two-wheels carts. Their 651 km west-to-east crossing was the longest latitudinal traverse without motorized transportation. In 2017, Copeland and partner Mark George attempted an unsupported mission on foot from Canada to the North Pole. Equipment failure and severe frostbites forced the team to abort mission after two days during a −60C cold spell.

Recent activities

Copeland is a mountain and climbing enthusiast. In 2005, Sebastian co-organized a media initiative in the Arctic with

in defense of the Inuit's cultural loss to climate change. After two trips to Antarctica, in 2006 and 2007, he decided to try to combine fine art photography, adventure and environmental concerns. In 2007, Copeland released his first book ''Antarctica: The Global Warning'' followed in 2009 with ''Antarctica: A Call To Action''. In 2013, in Copeland completed his second documentary, ''Across The Ice: The Greenland Victory March''. In 2015, Copeland published his third monogram, ''Arctica: The Vanishing North'' published by teNeues, representing 10 years of Arctic travel. ''Arctica'' is a comprehensive visual record of the North Pole, including a foreword by

Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...

and accompanying texts by Andrew J. Weaver, Dr. Ted Scambos, Mayor

Eric Garcetti Eric Michael Garcetti (born February 4, 1971) is an American politician who served as the 42nd mayor of Los Angeles from 2013 until 2022. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was first elected in the 2013 Los An ...

Sheila Watt-Cloutier Sheila Watt-Cloutier (born 2 December 1953) is a Canadian Inuk activist. She has been a political representative for Inuit at the regional, national and international levels, most recently as International Chair for the Inuit Circumpolar Counc ...

and

Børge Ousland Børge Ousland (born 31 May 1962) is a Norwegian polar explorer. He was the first person to cross Antarctica solo. He started his career as a Norwegian Navy Special Forces Officer with Marinejegerkommandoen, and he also spent several years work ...

. Copeland was named Photographer of the Year by the Tokyo Int'l Photo Awards for this book. In 2018, Copeland was given a public exhibit by the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 34 ...

. The show of eighty panels seen by an estimated four million visitors over four months along the gates of the Luxembourg gardens in Paris. Copeland currently lives in Los Angeles. He continues to lead expeditions to remote parts of the world to which he hopes will increase awareness of

Awards and honors

Selected photography awards

* 2007: International Photography Awards (IPA) --Professional Photographer of the Year Book Category for ''Antarctica: The Global Warning'' * 2008: Prix Pictet—Shortlist finalist * 2011: Px3 Prix de la Photographie Paris—Gold Award – Professional Press Nature/Environmental Category * 2012: Arctic Awards – FIAP Medal & PSA The Arctic ribbon * 2016 Tokyo Int'l Photography Award— Photographer of the Year for the book ''Arctica: The Vanishing North'' * 2020: International Photography Award (IPA) Professional Book Photographer of the Year — ''Antarctica: The Waking Giant'' https://www.photoawards.com/winner/?compName=IPA+2020

Others

* 2008 GQ Germany: Man Of The Year—Engagement * 2010 Gala Award, Germany – Environmental Stewardship * 2014 green good design copeland Award 2014 from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture & Design * 2018 Germany's BAMBI award, in the "Our Earth" category *2019 Knighted in the National Order of Merit by French President Emmanuel Macron

Selected exhibitions

* 2007: Salon Imperial, Paris, ''Antarctica: The Global Warning'' Nov. 27th-16 December 2007 * 2008: Jan Kesner Gallery Los Angeles, ''Antarctica: The Global Warning'' Nov. 2007 – Jan. 2008 * 2008: Flo Peters Gallery Hamburg Germany, ''Antarctica—The Global Warning'' 24 April – 24 May 2008 * 2008: Napapijri Gallery Milan, Italy Solo Show ''Antarctica'' 23 June 2008 – 15 September 2008 * 2013: Bernheimer Gallery, Munich Germany ''A Million Faces of Ice'' March—April 2013 * 2013: agosian Gallery Los Angeles, California ''B&W Ice'' exhibit to benefit the NRDC, October 2013 * 2017: Lumière Center for Photography, Moscow Pure Arctic Retrospective of more than 50 works 21 September 2017 – 7 January 2018 * 2018: Camera Work Gallery, Berlin "Sebastian Copeland" 19 October 2018 – 1 December 2018

Bibliography

* ''Antarctica: The Global Warning'' 2007 Palace Press International (French translation Intervista; Spanish Lunwerg and German Rolf Heyne; Australia The Five Mile Press) * ''Antarctica: A Call To Action'' 2008 Palace Press International * ''Water'' 2008 – Prix Pictet Editions TeNeues * ''The Call Of The Poles'' 2009 (Introduction) Le Cercle Polaire Publishing * ''Commitment: When The World Must Come Together As One'' 2009 (Essay) Edition Electa * ''Arctica: The Vanishing North'' 2015 TeNeues Publishing *''Antarctica:'' ''The Waking Giant'' 2020 Rizzoli Publishing (Introduction by Leonardo DiCaprio)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Sebastian Living people UCLA Film School alumni American photographers American environmentalists Artists from Los Angeles 1964 births Activists from California Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite